Kicking things off in style, there are two splendidly alternative ways to mark/avoid the Royal Wedding this weekend. Deptford Cinema’s suitably themed programme (18 to 20 MAY) invites you to “escape it all with our mini-festival of punk movies” including RADIANT CIRCUS favourite JUBILEE, BATTLESHIP POTEMKIN, RAN, and THE DEATH OF LOUIS XIV. Then there’s NEO ULTRA PUNK at ICA (also 18 to 20 MAY) which showcases the work of artist and filmmaker Shu Lea Cheang and includes her new “cypherpunk, sci-fi porn” feature film FLUIDØ, set in a post-AIDS future of 2060. Find these and more great seasons below.

Elsewhere, get ready to go Kubrick crazy with a glorious new 70mm Roadshow print of 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY – which screens exclusively at Picturehouse Central – and a new documentary about his actor, “muse and right-hand man”, Leon Vitali, FILMWORKER (see grind shows). Rio Cinema goes full-service with welcome repertory screenings of THE SHINING (19 MAY) and BARRY LYNDON (20 MAY).

Speaking of 70mm exclusives, there’s another one of our favourite things over at BFI Southbank…

Finally, we recognise the power of female filmmakers with this week’s F-Rated screenings including THE PIANO (18 MAY) and REVENGE (22 MAY) – both presented by Birds’ Eye View as part of their vital #ReclaimTheFrame initiative – as well as LOST IN TRANSLATION (19 MAY), EXTINCTION (20 MAY), THE BREADWINNER and LADY BIRD (both 22 MAY), THE FEMALE CLOSET (24 MAY) and two parallel seasons of films by Lurcrecia Martel at ICA and BFI (see seasons).

FRI 18

A personal journey by two bereaved parents whose son died in a road accident in Vietnam five years ago. They now honour him with their own road trip across the USA where they meet other bereaved families with stories of grief that refuse social expectations. UK Premiere.

A Birds Eye View and Women & Hollywood 25th anniversary screening of Jane Campion’s groundbreaking film. This is a preview of the new Digital Restoration of the film, released by Independent Cinema Office and STUDIOCANAL on 15 June. Reclaim The Frame aims to bring ever-greater audiences to films by women and to build a more balanced film future.

Gaining unprecedented access to the lives of religious fundamentalists, RECRUITING FOR JIHAD is a powerful examination of extremism in Europe, which makes its UK Premiere at Bertha DocHouse. RECRUITING FOR JIHAD also enjoys a grind show run at the same venue (18 to 24 MAY).

SAT 19

The Cinema Museum welcomes director and film historian Kevin Brownlow to another in the popular ‘Desert Island Flicks’ series. Kevin will be interviewed with clips from his favourite movies, by Neil Brand. This is a Save the Cinema Museum benefit.

120 BPM is a magnificent piece of film-making and was a critical and awards success, winning 6 Césars, the French Oscar equivalent. Jon Davies introduces the film and leads a tour of other French films that gained such critical and popular acclaim.

Salomé Lamas’ haunting essay film enters the dark and labyrinthine borderlands of what was once the USSR. Kolya is a young man from Moldova, who feels a strong allegiance to Transnistria – a communist breakaway state which does not legally exist.

Insecure Men take over Deeper Into Movies to present their THE KILL SHOP video introduced by director Niall Trask. Then the band will be DJing before introducing their hand-picked movie for the night…the Australian nightmare cult classic WAKE IN FRIGHT.

MON 21

Welcome to your neighbourhood film school, a series of hosted screenings exploring film history and introducing current debates in cinema culture. Senegalese write-director Ousmane Sembene’s film will be presented by writer and curator Manish Agarwal (BFI London Film Festival & Overnight Film Festival).

Serial killers are popular figures in South Korean cinema, and their shocking tales of murder hold a tight grip on the neck of their box-office. In MEMOIR OF A MURDERER, one elderly killer’s grasp loosens as his memory begins to fail, but a new and dangerous foe is ready to take his place… A Korean Film Festival teaser screening.

In a near future where water is a precious and dwindling resource, hardened survivors scrape and struggle to get by on a barren land that has withered and grown wretched. Before the film, Dr Daanish Mustafa, Reader in Politics and Environment at King’s College London, will examine why it is that, with water in abundance the world over, only the poorest communities suffer from water scarcity. Presented by Science Fiction Theatre.

More films in London today (A – Z):12 ANGRY MEN 35mm at The Prince Charles (21 MAY 18:25). A CAMBODIAN SPRING + Q&A with director Chris Kelly & the Venerable Sovath (featured in the film) at Rio Cinema (21 MAY 18:25). NEW TOWN UTOPIA at Barbican (21 MAY 18:30). ONE FLEW OVER THE CUCKOO’S NEST at Stratford Picturehouse (21 MAY 20:30 – Other Picturehouses available!). RAWHIDE presented by Kennington Shoot-em-ups at The Cinema Museum (21 MAY 19:30). ROYALTY short film programme presented by Queerly Beloved at The Glory (21 MAY 19:00). SHORT FILMS: BEST OF presented by The Film Bunch at Mirth, Marvel & Maud (21 MAY 19:00). SINK + Q&A with Mark Rylance & Mark Gillis at Curzon Soho (21 MAY 18:40). VIDEODROME presented by Deeper Into Movies at The Five Bells (21 MAY 19:30).

Already more than half of humanity lives in urban areas. During an evening of film screenings and discussion, we explore these tensions and what solutions can be found to make cities places that leave no one behind.

WED 23

Billy Chainsaw presents an evening of films by the award-winning director Prano Bailey-Bond who grew up on a diet of TWIN PEAKS in the depths of a strange Welsh community. Her work invokes imaginative worlds, fusing a dark vocabulary with eerie allure, revealing how beauty resides in strange places.

“Celebrated the world over as one of the central figures of the postwar Italian cinema, Pier Paolo Pasolini is recognized in his native land as arguably the most important Italian artist and intellectual of the twentieth century.” – Harvard Film Archive. Films include: OEDIPUS REX (20 MAY 18:00); MEDEA (20 MAY 20:00); THEOREM (22 MAY 20:00); and, SALÒ, OR THE 120 DAYS OF SODOM (23 MAY 19:30).

A complete retrospective of the work of Argentine filmmaker Lucrecia Martel, “celebrating her complex, unsettling cinema”: THE SWAMP + Q&A with Lucrecia Martel (20 MAY 18:00); THE HOLY GIRL (23 MAY 21:00); and, ZAMA (24 MAY 20:45).

After decades of being represented and ‘spoken for’ by Western directors, these films burst with the creativity of filmmakers reclaiming the right to take control of the camera for the first time. Films include: SI MOH, THE UNLUCKY MAN + THE EAST WIND (23 MAY 18:30).

GRIND SHOWS

For the first time since the original release, this 70mm print was struck from new printing elements made from the original camera negative. This is a true photochemical film recreation, with no digital tricks, remastered effects, or revisionist edits, that is showing exclusively at Picturehouse cinemas. This screening will have a 15 minute interval.

Belarus has been called ‘Europe’s last Dictatorship’, ruled by President Lukashenko since the collapse of the USSR. Young Kostia – 18 and about to vote for the first time – muses on the future for his country with his family and friends in his small village.

This handsomely mounted film of the 1959 Rodgers and Hammerstein musical is an exemplary translation from stage to screen. Right from the aerial opening – presented in glorious 70mm for an exclusive two-week run at BFI – Robert Wise and screenwriter Ernest Lehman place passion, energy, movement and musical expression at the heart of their brisk, eloquent storytelling.

#shelterfromthestorm

*THE SMALL PRINT: As accurate as we could make it. Apologies for any errors. Apologies if we have missed your event. Updates & corrections will be made to the online version. Event dates/times are subject to change by the venue/organiser. We check box office for all films in London this week before posting: some events may still be sold out. Please click quickly! We don’t filter by age/certification: all readers & subscribers should be 18+.